FloorFacts: Flooring Fashion Guide FloorFacts Home  
Hardwood Floors | Laminate Floors | Bamboo Floors | Cork Floors | Carpet | Ceramic Tile | Area Rugs | Vinyl Floors

You are here: FloorFacts Home > Carpet > Carpet Fibers


Carpet

Carpet

Types of Carpet Construction

Berber Carpets

Carpet Fibers

Carpet Remnants

Mohawk SmartStrand Carpets

Carpet Buying Tips

Carpet Cleaning

Carpet Care

See also...

Carpet Manufacturers

Carpet Fibers

Nylon: This is the most popular synthetic carpet fiber used today. It offers tremendous value, performance, and ease of maintenance. Nylon provides brilliant colors and hides soil and traffic well. Invista's Stainmaster and Solutia's Wear-Dated are examples of premium nylon fibers with stain and soil resistance built into the fibers.

Today's most advanced nylon carpet fibers actually reduce dirt and soils ability to stick or transfer onto the surface of the carpet. These specially treated fibers will even bead up liquid spills rather than allowing to soak in. This makes carpets manufactured with these new generation fibers much easier to keep clean and looking like new longer than ever before.

As an example, Mohawk Carpet recently introduced a revolutionary, new carpet fiber called SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona® polymer. This new generation carpet fiber combines exceptional durability with permanent, engineered-in stain protection that will not wash or wear off.

Soft Carpet Fibers: Some fiber manufacturers are producing fibers that feel as soft as cotton (such as Invista's Stainmaster Tactesse® BCF fibers, Honeywell's Anso Caress and DuraSoft® by Wear-Dated), yet will outperform many other conventional carpet fibers. The difference is the nylon filaments are really much finer than the typical filaments (finer than a strand of hair) but twice as much fibers are packed into the strands of yarn. This gives these carpets its softness and strength.

Olefin: This fiber is also called polypropylene. Olefin is extremely popular in Berbers, level loops carpets and outdoor turf products. Olefin carpets are highly stain, static, mold, and mildew resistant. They can be used for indoor or outdoor carpets. Olefin's resistance to matting and crushing is not quite as good as a nylon.

Polyester: Gives excellent color clarity with a soft feel to the carpet. Lacks the durability of a nylon carpet.

Acrylic: Has a real wool look and appearance. Used mainly in level loops, bath mats, and some velvet carpet styles. Offers good mold and mildew resistance with low static levels.

Wool: Although somewhat expensive, wool still offers great bulk, performance and an elegant look. Wool is not stain resistant and can smell when it gets wet.